It is not uncommon for people to take a bunch of supplements and vitamins when they start a vegan diet, since there is this fear that they will be lacking in important nutrients. While this can help ensure you get what your body needs, it isn’t always as necessary as you might think. Here are some ways to get the key nutrients through your vegan diet.
Basic Tips for Getting More Nutrients
If you want to get all your vitamins and minerals through your food without needing a lot of extra supplementation, here are some tips to help get you started:
- Don’t shy away from carbs. If you are coming from a strict diet, you may be used to hearing about how bad carbs are for you, which is not the case. On a vegan diet, it tends to be lower in fat, and high in carbs, so enjoy your rice, quinoa, beans, nuts, and bread!
- Add nuts and seeds to your daily menu. Try to have nuts and/or seeds at least once a day, or more than once a day. They make great snacks, can top your salads, or can go in your diary-free yogurt. Seeds like chia seeds and hemp seeds are ideal for smoothies to boost the protein.
- Mix and match your fruits and veggies. You probably have some fruits and veggies that are your staples, but if you only stick to the same ones, you may be missing out on other nutrients. Mix them up, try new things, and enjoy different fruits to get a different selection of vitamins and minerals.
- Try to add whole grains to at least one meal a day. Whole grains are loaded with important nutrients that you need on a vegan diet, including protein. At least once a day, have some whole grains on the side, such as quinoa or brown rice.
How to Get These Vitamins and Minerals
When it comes to specific nutrients, there are some that vegans get less of in general, since most people would get them through dairy, cheese, meat, and seafood. But don’t worry you can get them all through plant-based food!
- Iron For more iron, have whole-grain bread, tofu, broccoli, beans, and fortified cereals.
- Vitamin D For vitamin D, you will need to eat fortified foods, like some types of cereals and rice milk. If you don’t get regular sun exposure, a daily vitamin is a good idea.
- Protein Lots of vegan foods contain protein, including beans, nuts, seeds, some veggies, and some grains.
- Omega-3s You can get your omega-3 fatty acids from walnuts and flaxseeds.
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